Index

February 27, 2014

A Preview of The Mexican Food Festival with Chef Eduardo Perez at Taj Bengal, Kolkata

"The great variety of flavors and textures in mexican cuisine gives
us not only a healthy and balanced diet, but also a very exquisite one. "

-Chef Eduardo

Mexican Food Festival will continue till 2nd March'14.

The A la Carte Menu price is 3000/- (inclusive of tax)

for Two. Few Mexican dishes will be available on the

buffet counter too at the regular buffet price at THE HUB.

After Delhi, Mumbai, It is quite exhilarating for the foodies of Kolkata
to assay the authentic Mexican Cuisine. Taj Bengal Kolkata proudly invited Chef
Eduardo Perez to host the Mexican Food Festival for a week and to share his
culinary magic with us. Ensuring the fact that now a day eating out has changed
our palates to such an extent that our minds and bodies crave for changes and
expect lots of verities in the flavours to whet the insatiable appetites. This
kind of food festival not only is an eye opener for the people who have never
tasted the respective cuisine but also for them who love scaling and
experimenting their taste buds often. Being a part of Kolkata Food Bloggers(KFB),
the invitation for the Food preview of the Mexican Food Festival and meeting
the Chef in person did open a plethora of knowledge about this particular
cuisine. The tables got decked up with the twinkles of the cutleries, myths got unfolded, tasting and learning
session started - two hours moved in a mesmerizing trance where we had a short
tour to the Mexican kitchen and traveled back to our own city to enjoy the dishes on our own way.

Mexican food in taste and ingredients is a bit close to Indian fare. Though
ginger is absolutely not used in Mexican cuisine, usage of chilies, coriander
leaves, onion, tomato, garlic are used amply. Mexican cuisine may sound one of
the most complex flares in the world of cuisines mainly when we got to know
that Mole sauce itself needs almost 30 ingredients to cook. Chipotle chili
paste or sauce is one of must ingredients the Chef shared. No usage of milk but
of water and corn oil enhance the taste of the dishes. Considering Tortila, Rice, Corns and Beans as
the staple food, we got awestruck to hear that there are more than 100 types of
chilies they use in their dishes. Mulling over the fact of their meat intake,
Beef comes first and then follows the pork, lamb, chicken and seafood. Cheese is one of the very common ingredients
but Mexican cuisine has their own specialty cheese production, naming some
famous are Oaxaca and Panela.

The Menu for the Mexican Food Festival has been designed not to open an extensive array of Mexican food but keeping it simple and compact. Focusing mainly on the traditional Mexican dishes is what exactly the Fest got conceptualized. The A La Carte menu offers one soup, two starters, two main course dishes and one dessert. Keeping the proverb in mind “When you are in Rome, you have to be a Roman” The dishes were presented with a bit twist to add the Indian flavor to our taste and also at availability of the ingridients that can be easily available in Kolkata. Our serving started with the most traditional and authentic soup. The soup was cooked with three times lesser spiciness that should cook as an original Mexican way. Usually avocado too gets added in the soup but in Kolkata the availability of good avocado is very rare. The Chimichangas were presented with the addition of the famous Indian Panipuri flavor. Chicken Fajita won my heart. Though it is not presented in a Totilla wrapper but more over like a salad. The Mole Sauce here cooked with more than 13 ingredients and what surprised me the usage of chocolate, banana, and cookies in the Mole sauce. Yes, every cuisine has its own charm and magic. The winner was the Churros which were served with a scoop of freshly made Vanilla and diced raw coconut Ice cream and Chocolate sauce. The whole menu, as I have told earlier has been designed keeping in mind to focus on the Mexican Traditional cooking and the authentic way to serve it. But observing the taste buds of the people some variations got added with some twist and turns. Overall the Journey was explicable and delectable.

Chef Eduardo Perez: Lives in Merida, Yucatan Mexico. Graduated from the Letty Gordon Institution at Mexico City and the International School of Chefs at Merida, Yucatan, Mexico where he teaches today. "Giving colour and taste to the Mexican Food festival across India in association with Corralejo Tequila, Taj Bengal is going to host Chef Eduarado Perez to enchant us with his exquisite 'Mexico' and 'Maya' seasoning, using authentic Mexican ingredients "